1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the treatment of respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, and more particularly to methods and systems for operating or otherwise interacting with a patient ventilation device.
2. Related Art
Sleep apnea is a serious medical condition in which patient breathing during sleep pauses abnormally, or is abnormally low. Apnea is categorized as obstructive, central, and combined obstructive and central, though the obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common. The patient's upper airway repeatedly narrows or collapses, causing pauses in breathing that may extend in duration up to half a minute. Although some degree of apnea is considered normal, in more severe cases, daytime sleepiness and fatigue may result as a consequence of reduced blood oxygen saturation, as well as constant interruptions to sleep cycles resulting from patients gasping for air. There have been studies linking sleep apnea to more severe long-term health issues including heart disease and depression, and recently, to cancer as well. With apnea being strongly linked to obesity, and with obesity being projected to increase, the number of patients suffering from sleep apnea is likely to increase concomitantly.
One common treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, where a positive pressure is applied to the patient's airway to prevent its collapse as would otherwise occur during an apnea episode. By retaining the patient's airway, normal, uninterrupted breathing during sleep is ensured. In a basic implementation, CPAP therapy applies a constant pressure that is not tied to the patient's normal breathing cycle. The positive airway pressure is desired in the inspiratory phase when the pressure differences between the lungs and the nose contribute to the collapse of the intermediate airway. Various improvements have been developed that reduce positive pressure flow to the patient during the expiratory phase, thereby reducing resistance to the patient's breathing efforts and patient discomfort. Further refinements that recognize the minimal flow and pressure toward the end of the patient's expiratory phase and responsively reduce the delivery of positive pressure have also been contemplated.
Earlier patient breathing assistance devices tended to be uncomfortable to use, not only for its bulkiness with respect to the patient interface or mask, but as mentioned above, the reduced accuracy of the control algorithms that resulted in the misapplication of patient pressure. With these issues being resolved, or at least being significantly improved upon, what was previously prescribed only for the more severe cases of sleep apnea in which the benefits of treatment outweighed the significant discomfort is now useful for treating a wider spectrum of sleep apnea conditions. Further cost reductions were possible with the elimination of expensive flow sensors and control systems based thereon in favor of pressure sensor based systems such as that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/411,257 entitled “DUAL PRESSURE SENSOR CONTINUOUS POSITIVE AIRWAY PRESSURE (CPAP) THERAPY,” filed Mar. 2, 2012, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety herein. Coupled with improved performance, these and numerous other cost reduction efforts, CPAP devices are becoming increasingly accessible to many more patients, especially for home use.
Being that CPAP devices are largely derived from medical ventilator devices utilized in clinical settings, its operating interface has accordingly been geared more towards doctors, nurses, technicians, and other medical professionals. That is, many configuration settings, some of which may require numeric values, are immediately presented on startup before a therapy session can be started. While these settings and other operational details may be readily recognized by skilled medical personnel who are familiar with CPAP treatment and obstructive sleep apnea conditions, this is not necessarily the case with individual patients. Since medical personnel cannot always be present to operate CPAP devices at home, patients may face the difficult task of configuring and setting up the prescribed treatment alone. Furthermore, the seemingly simple step of activating and using the CPAP device each night may be complicated due to the multi-level nested menus of conventional solutions. Such frustrations encountered during use may discourage some patients from continuing treatment.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved methods and systems for operating a patient breathing apparatus. It would be desirable to present a minimal number of options that could potentially be misconfigured while maintaining the requisite functionality. There is also a need for CPAP device user interfaces that are more user-friendly and encourage regular treatment.